Hwy 128

And then we drove home. It was going to be a long day, but I thought we might as well do it all the way and we took the drive up hwy 128...thereby adding probably an hour to the drive home. I was hoping we'd have some good early evening light on Fisher Towers, and it was. That river canyon is an interesting place. Maybe someday I'll camp along the river, hike Negro Bill canyon, and Fisher Towers and take that drive up into the LaSals. Still so much to see and do in Moab.

Devil's Garden

And then we drove to the end of the park. I hadn't been down this far since we brought the kids for the hike to Delicate Arch 15 or so years ago. I always remember it as being one of the best places to camp. And being there again reminded me just why I love it. The trees with the rocks are just incredible. I only went down the trail far enough to see Landscape Arch. I went super slow and enjoyed the warm day, the blue sky, the red rock, the chirping birds, the trees and then the wonderful arch. I felt so good.

Delicate Arch

So we were trying to decide which to do first, Delicate Arch or the Devil's Garden. I was thinking Devil's Garden would be longer, but in the end Delicate Arch probably was tougher. Anyway we went to Delicate Arch, along with everyone else in the park that day. It was kind of fun to see so many people trudging up and down the trail. I didn't mind it.

I always remember the first time I hiked it. Milo was probably on his mission since he wasn't in the pictures. We crossed over the wash on a wobbly swinging foot bridge, followed the trail with cairns and on the slickrock they had painted white arrows showing the way. We had no idea what to expect and were so amazed at the sight of that beautiful and fragile looking arch.

This time it was tougher for me. But it was a good tough, it really felt great to be out in the gorgeous weather, working out and being on that trail. Jesse went on ahead at his own speed and waited for me at the top. I leap frogged with a couple groups, one of which had a cute little girl in flipflops that was doing so good. I loved seeing all the families with all ages. How do people all get off at the same time to come down together?

Up at the top I caught my breath and then ate my lunch while gazing at that incredible arch. It is unique in that it is all by itself, unattached to a wall. Corona and Rainbow bridge are most similar in that they have one leg free, but Delicate arch truly is alone on the edge of that cliff and bowl. I love it. It was so good to be there.

The Windows Section of Arches

After driving into Moab to get some picnic/lunch food we headed over to Arches. We stopped for a quick peak in the Visitor's Center which is a nice one and then we drove over to the Window's section-so called due to all the arches in such a relatively small area.

It had been awhile since I'd taken the walk up to the North and South Windows so that was first on the agenda. Doing so allowed us to see Turret Arch which I'd forgotten was there.


It was such a perfect day. Blue sky, warm, slight breeze to cool off the sweat from working out. It was great. And so fun to be there with Jesse. I sure love him.

Mill Canyon Dinosaurs

What I wanted was Copper Ridge Dinosaur tracks. I didn't realize that Mill Canyon and Copper Ridge weren't the same place. I had printed out directions to Mill Canyon and am glad we took the short side road into the canyon. It is amazing what is hidden from the main highway.

And we were able to see some dinosaur bones in-situ, which was kind of fun. But over all I was disappointed because I was expecting dinosaur trackways. Sigh, next time.

Sego Ghost Town

Just down the road from the rock art is the town of Sego. It was abandoned in the '40's and is kind of fun to rumage around. There are two old cars left behind to rust away. A large building of stone that was probably the boarding house, a crumpled old wood building and a couple other easily seen places. There is probably alot more here that someone with an interest could learn about.

Barrier Era panels

There are three Barrier era panels and they seemed every bit as good as those in Horseshoe Canyon. They are life size images in red with large empty eyes and horns and wings and long earrings and lines. They are fascinating to see, better in person than in pictures since you can get the full impact of their size as well as a sense of place in the small canyon. One assumes that they used the canyon as a passageway between the desert of the San Rafael and Canyonlands area and the northern Uintah Basin.

Fremont Panel

Each of the panels were near to each other, the Fremont was just to the right of the Ute on a south facing wall. It had a couple of very nice depictions of figures wearing necklaces with the wide shoulders and no legs typical of the style.

One day in Moab- Ute Panel

Jesse was willing to go with me to see some places near Moab that I've wanted to see. We left at 5 am and got back home about 11pm. I didn't stay awake on the way back so I was glad he was driving and able to stay awake.

First we went to Thompson Springs Canyon to look at the rock art there. There are three different eras represented, the latest being the Ute, then the Fremont and last the Barrier/Archaic. The Ute era panel was the least interesting to me. It seemed to be no more than a child's sidewalk chalk art. When I said that to Jesse he said, "ya, especially with the baseball". I hadn't noticed, but there was definitely a baseball looking circle.